Full of expectation, the expeditionary army saw the vast, bold undertaking develop before its eyes.  For nine hundred years no hostile army had landed on the coast of England.  Certainly, in ancient times Britain had had to fight against invading enemies:  Julius Caesar had entered as a conqueror, Canute the Great, King of Denmark, had subdued the country.  The Angles and Saxons had come over from Germany, to make themselves masters of the land.  Harold the Fairhaired, King of Norway, had landed in England.  But since the time of William of Normandy, who defeated the Saxons at Hastings and set up the rule of the Normans in England, not even her most powerful enemies, neither Philip of Spain nor the great Napoleon, had succeeded in landing their troops on the sea-girt soil of England.

Would a German army now succeed?

The outlines of the country became clearer and clearer; some even believed they could see the lofty height of Edinburgh Castle on the horizon.  But soon the distant view was obscured and darkness slowly came on.

Hitherto not a single hostile ship had been seen.  But now, when the greater part of the squadron had already entered the bay, the searchlights discovered two English cruisers whose presence had already been reported by the advance boats of the torpedo division.

In view of our great superiority, these cruisers declined battle, and by hauling down their flag, signified their readiness to surrender.  From the sea, nothing remained to hinder the landing of the troops.  The transports approached the south shore of the bay, on which Edinburgh and the harbour town of Leith are situated; and, after casting anchor, landed the troops in boats by the electric light.  The infantry immediately occupied the positions favourable to meet any attack that might be made.  But nothing happened to prevent the landing.  The Scottish population remained perfectly calm, so that the disembarkation was completed without disturbance.

The population of Leith and the inhabitants of Edinburgh, who had hurried up full of curiosity, beheld, to their boundless astonishment, a spectacle almost incomprehensible to them, carried out with admirable precision under the bright electric light from the German ships.

The people had taken the keenest interest in the great war of England against the allied Powers—­Germany, France, and Russia—­but with a feeling that it was a matter which chiefly concerned the Government, the Army, and the Navy.  They were painfully aware that things were going worse and worse for them, but were convinced that the Government would soon overthrow the enemy.  Everyone knew that the Russians had penetrated into India, but the great mass of the people did not trouble about that.  It could only be a passing misfortune, and trade, which was at present ruined, would soon revive and be all the more flourishing.  But the idea that an enemy, a continental army, could land on the coast of Great Britain, that German or French soldiers could ever set foot on British soil, had seemed to Scotsmen so remote a contingency that they now appeared completely overcome by the logic of accomplished facts.